About Liu Bolin

Claiming, “I put my thinking of the whole of society and my view of the entire world into my artworks,” Liu Bolin produces sculptures, installations, paintings, and photographs in which he critiques global societies. Though he has traveled to cities like New York and Paris for his work, he focuses principally on his native China, characterized by rampant development and consumerism. Among his best-known projects is his “Hiding in the City” series (begun 2005). Eschewing Photoshop, Liu stands in front of iconic cultural, historical, and commercial sites, camouflages himself to blend (almost) seamlessly into his surroundings, and photographs himself. The resulting images show him dissolved into shelves of junk food or the Great Wall—a Taoist vision of oneness with the world, and a warning of contemporary society’s consumptive power.